To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live
by Fan of the Bible
Summary: A cliche reverse time and save everyone, right? Wrong. The story of the Titanic through the eyes of four girls- the four girls who can choose to attempt the impossible, but can they do anything further than attempt? R/R No flames, please
1. Prologue

To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live

Prologue- To Drown

April 9, 2008

"And you'll get licked to death by dogs!" I prophesized to Amber, giggling. Maggie looked stricken at the thought (she was afraid of dogs), but Amber and Aili laughed. We were planning each other's fates at my sleep-over party that night. It was a Wednesday night, but we were on Spring Break so we decided to take advantage of it. "So, Maggie," I said once the chortling had subsided, "how will you die?"

She thought for a long moment. "I'll drown," she said finally. "That's a peaceful way to go." We pondered this. Our other deaths were silly. I'd fall off Mt. Everest when I pushed a guy I didn't like off and he pulled me with him, Aili'd get eaten by the toilet. The silence was unusual, and it unnerved me, so I struck up a conversation on a new topic.

As the night wore on, our words spiraled down to silence and one by one, my friends fell asleep. I stayed awake, however, pondering Maggie's words. To drown… I'd never thought much of it. I couldn't see that any death would be peaceful, exactly, but now I could see her point. To drown… Like the people on the Titanic. With that thought, I drifted off to sleep.

**A/N-**

The narrator of this story is Cindy.

Aili is pronounced I-lee, not Ally as most people think. It is a variation of the Irish name Eiley, as it is sometimes spelled.

Please excuse my mistakes on facts, both from the movie, and from life- my resources are limited!

Thanks,

Fan of the Bible


	2. Chapter 1: A GreatGrandmother Was Young

To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live

Chapter One- When My Great-Grandmother Was Young

April 10

_HONK HONK!_

The sound of the car horn jolted me from sleep. I sat up and immediately wished I hadn't. There was a very old but very clean car right in front of me, and the man driving it looked as if he would run me over if I didn't move. I quickly stood up, but then I noticed that I wasn't the only one the man was honking at. Three other figures were in various levels of confusion as they stood up.

_HONK HONK!_

The man honked one more time and I realized that several large, dirty bags were still in front of the car. I hastened to move them out of the car's way. The driver glared at me as he drove off. I had the first chance to take a good look at my surroundings. I seemed to be on a pier, though where and why I could not place. All around me people were bustling to get to unknown destinations and struggling with luggage. They were all wearing clothes that seemed to have jumped from the past, just like the car that felt the need to raise me from sleep. I turned to look at whatever was behind me. It was a huge ship.

It was the Titanic.

I gasped. Why was I wherever I was? Was I on a movie set or something? It made me wonder. At a sudden thought, I look down at my clothes. Yup, old, now out-dated and dusty old dresses. How strange. Then I remembered last night. Were my friends here, too? I looked around again. Sure enough, they were the other figures that had been in front of the vehicle. "Amber," I said. "Maggie, Aili- why are we here?"

Aili grinned, apparently lost in thought. It was Amber who answered, though. "I guess I wasn't alone in thinking of the movie Titanic when Maggie talked of drowning last night." I nodded, as did Aili, and finally Maggie herself. "So," Amber continued. "I'd say it's our chance to change the end."

I wondered about that. "Are we sure we're in the movie? And not… you know, actually back in the time when my great-grandmother was young?"

"I think there's only one way to check." Aili said thoughtfully. "Find somebody who was in the movie but not in real life. "

"How?" I asked her. "There must be a thousand people on here."

Aili looked down at her outfit, which was similar to mine. Grimy. "Well, we're obviously third class, so let's start there. I mean, we have no better plan, do we?"

She had a point. "Alright," I agreed after a moment. Then another thought hit me. "Wait- do we have tickets and such?"

Aili checked the little pocket on the bag in front of her. It did, indeed hold a ticket.

The rest of us checked, too. We all came back up with tickets in hand. Maybe we were meant to change the tragic fate of the movie… if not the tragic fate of the ship itself. Was it possible that we could change history?

We boarded the ship. I think I was dreaming. Yes, that was a likely explanation. I'd make the best of it, anyway. We found our room after a good bit of searching. It was a tiny room, just large enough for two sets of rickety bunk beds. We set our stuff down in whatever space was left.

I asked Amber what time it was. She looked at her watch then looked back at me. "Time for you to get a watch."

"What time is it?" I asked again. She had a habit of doing this.

"Fine," she snapped. "11:48."

Maggie smiled. "Jack should arrive around here in ten minutes then, give or take a few seconds."

I laughed. "No drooling, Magz."

She shot me a look, and the rest of us laughed. We talked for a few more minutes before I checked Amber's watch again. "Alright, guys, if he's here, he's going to be coming right about now."

We looked out the door. Sure enough, within a minute, Jack and Fabrizio came sprinting down the hall. They turned into a room a few down from the room across from ours.

Maggie grinned. "That was easy."

Aili shook her head. "No. That was the easy part. We're nowhere near started, even."

I had the bad feeling she was right.


	3. Chapter 2: Aboard the Legendary Titanic

To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live

Chapter Two- Aboard the Legendary Titanic

April 12, 1912

Life aboard the Titanic so far was nothing as I could have imagined. Once my friends and I had gotten used to the clothing and the decorations and so forth, we felt like we blended in just a little more, but things were still strange. The attitude and behavior differences between the rich and the poor, for instance. Anyone we passed from a higher class looked at us with disdain and arrogance- I could see why Rose had wanted to escape. It was so different when we met someone from our own class- in return, we'd get smiles and waves or perhaps a casual conversation.

A curious fact, however, was that, on that first evening on the ship, we befriended Jack. Several years older though he was, I especially found him easy to talk to. Fate was a curious thing. We had to pull Maggie away on occasion, because she had a lasting infatuation. Amber reminded her that this was Jack Dawson- a fictional character, not Leonardo DiCaprio- the real person. Regardless of what Amber said, however, things were flip-flopped here- Jack was real, Leonardo DiCaprio was not. The irony of it all was not lost on me.

That night, we stayed out late, waiting for Rose's arrival. Not long after we chose benches somewhat close to Jack's and sat down, a sobbing Rose DeWitt Bukater ran past the back of our seats. We stopped talking mid-conversation to watch. We could not really hear what they were saying, but it appeared to be the same as it had been in the movie we enjoyed so much. The screams, pleading for help, did startle us, even though we expected them. It made me consider how scary it would be to be the one hanging off the edge of a ship, a man's grip being the only thing stopping you from plunging to certain death. I felt Rose's emotion more than I ever could have through a cold television screen. Jack rescued Rose as we knew he would, and the chain of events worked out well. When he was alone again, we approached him. Up close, he was pale. Regardless of what he could have reassured anyone, he was afraid that Rose would let go.

"What happened, Jack?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"She would have died," he said, almost to himself.

"Who would've?" Aili persisted.

He finally acknowledged us. "Rose De… DeWitt Ba… Bu… Rose with a long last name." He grinned to us for the first time all night.

"Who?" I asked.

"First class- girl with gorgeous red hair, you must've seen her…" he commented.

"Why would she have died?" Maggie asked concernedly. Our acting skills were better than I'd thought.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know why, but maybe if I hadn't stopped her, she might've jumped off the front of the ship."

We gasped in unison, probably overdoing it slightly. Jack didn't notice.

Suddenly, Amber grinned. "You like her, don't you?" She asked in a tantalizing voice.

Jack blushed and did not answer. I thought suddenly of Tommy Ryan. How wrong he was, when he said Jack didn't have a chance! Now that I thought of him, though, my conscience seared and I knew we'd have to save him, too. Maybe we'd find a good way to save everyone, though. This was going to be a long few days.

Jack bid us good night and headed back toward the third class rooms. I felt like we needed to stay up a while because before this all was over, we had to have a plan."So," I said. "How do we change Mr. Dawson's life, and everyone else who dies?" It was an odd-sounding question. But then, I guessed, it was an odd question.

Amber frowned. "Has it ever occurred to anyone to just find a way to change the course of the ship so it doesn't hit an iceberg at all?"

I stared at her and felt rather stupid.

"Nope," Maggie answered, voicing not only her thoughts but mine and Aili's too.

"Maybe we could do that. Does anyone have anything better?"

Maggie and Aili both shrugged, but I couldn't let us leave with such a half-baked plan.

"One," I said, slightly frustrated, "we need the actual plan behind that, if it is our goal. Two, we will need a back-up plan, because I don't think it's all that likely that they're going to listen to a bunch of 16-year-olds."

This statement was met by silence. I had a point and all three knew it.

Suddenly the task seemed even more daunting than before.

**April 13, 1912**

We awoke that morning with more hope than we had fallen asleep with. We had a nearly free day, because almost nothing that Jack or Rose did today would be visible to us without arousing suspicion. We decided to spend the day plotting. We figured that one of the only possible ways to save people was to get rid of some others. Happy ideas of pushing a certain rich, arrogant idiot overboard infiltrated my 

mind. I was all for it, but there was no specific need to… He didn't really kill anyone, so we sadly agreed that we shouldn't do the same thing to him. Maybe later…

We would try our original plan first and would see what would happen. Maggie, being our best actress, got the job.

"Please, sir," she began when she finally found Captain Smith. "I've a question."

Captain Smith smiled kindly down at her. "Yes?"

"Well…" Maggie began, as if nervous. "My mommy says that we're going to hit a lot of ice if we keep going…" Maggie was sixteen, but she was acting, as we had planned, to be an immature ten or eleven year old. She was small enough to play the part, and with the raggedy clothes, she looked even smaller.

Captain Smith's smile turned to a frown. "Why would she think that?"

Maggie shuffled her feet and looked to the ground. "Mommy says that if we don't move where we're going to then we're going to sink because we won't be able to see and iceberg because there's no wind." Maggie knew she was rambling, but it added to her effect, she thought.

"No wind…" He appeared to be thinking aloud. "No wind… That would do it…"

Maggie, knowing she had done all she could, left.

All we could do was wait.

**A/N-**

I just realized that I left two entire stops out of the Titanic voyage. I'd forgotten that the Titanic set out of Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 then stopped at Cherbourg, France (on the same day, I believe) then went on to Queenstown, Ireland (now known as Cobh) the next day before leaving land behind entirely. Now, it doesn't really change anything but the dates, but now it's correct, as far as I know.


	4. Chapter 3: Familiarity and Surprises

To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live

Chapter Three- Familiarity and Surprises

April 13, 1912

The rest of the morning was spent praying, hoping, trying to believe that our plan would work. No matter how much I insisted, we never could come up with a better plan, except some that were impossible. It could have been said, though, that what we were doing in itself was impossible anyway. I would've thought so a week ago.

Midday, an announcement was brought by the stewards to each separate class. The steward who came to us said this- "The captain was informed this morning by an anonymous source that a course change is required, so there will be a slight delay in our journey. This is nothing to worry about, as it is all taken care of and we should arrive an hour later than originally planned. Thank you for your cooperation."

At that, he left, taking with him our fears. Amber, Maggie, Aili and I exchanged looks of ecstasy. There would be no need for a second plan after all! We went out onto the deck, giggling madly. It was so much easier than we could have expected! We attracted several weird looks.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked, one of those same looks plastered on his face.

Together, we glanced at him, then back at one another. It only made us laugh harder. Eventually, I calmed down enough to stop and explain to the poor guy that we weren't laughing at him.

"Sorry, Jack," I said, still trying to catch my breath. "Nothing… We're not…" more laughter. "laughing at you… It's nothing personal, really!"

"What is it, then?" He asked again.

"Well," I said, inventing as I went along. "Amber here-" I turned around to look at her, but she wasn't there. I frowned, but decided to worry about it later. "Anyway, Amber tripped and landed on this old first-class man. "

"Yeah," Aili said, picking up the story. "He was walking in the opposite direction when Amber tripped and landed right in his arms! In fact, I think he was with another man and that redhead you like and her mother."

Jack looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, do you know him?" Maggie asked.

Jack shook his head. "No, but I've seen him."

At that point, Rose showed up, presumably to thank Jack. He waved goodbye and Maggie, Aili, and I shared a moment of laughter- each of us remembered that scene. In fact, it was one of my favorites.

l

I was looking forward to that party tonight. It would be the first time we could meet Rose. I wondered what it would be like to talk to her… It had seemed natural with Jack, because he was, for the time being, one of us… or rather, we were some of them. We were, on this journey at least, among the poorer people. Rose was of the rich. I knew that she was different from her kin, but how different could someone be? If she truly was who she was portrayed to be when she was around Jack, she'd be fine, I thought. I'm not entirely sure why I was so worried… I think I needed her acceptance. It mattered greatly to me for reasons unapparent.

l

It had not occurred to me before how early in the morning it had been when Maggie first confronted Captain Smith, so we had half the day left still until we had anything that was planned. We spent the rest of the day exploring the ship. There were so many wonderful things that weren't in the movie or couldn't truly be described. Down in the rooms there were little windows that you could see the ocean up close out of. The same dolphins Jack and Fabrizio had seen were right outside our window that afternoon- it was amazing! There were little boys running around the 3rd class decks, pretending to be soldiers. And the view… the view from almost anywhere on the boat was spectacular! It was not something that could be described unless seen personally.

Through all our exploring, Amber did not show up. I wondered about and got a little worried, but she was more than capable of protecting and taking care of herself, so I pushed it to the back of my mind. She'd probably meet us at the party, if nothing else.

Eventually, the time I'd been waiting anxiously for arrived- the party! We made our way below decks and to where Tommy had directed us. We ended up in the room we'd seen through the movie but never through life, because it was rather out of the way. When we arrived, the room was already rather crowded. Amber was not yet there. Since I did not have her watch to check, I did not know what time it was- but I knew that Jack and Rose wouldn't arrive until a little past 9:00, so I was pretty sure we had a bit of time before they got there.

Soon, the music started and everyone began dancing. We joined in, regardless of the fact that we had no partners. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think Maggie and Aili did, too.

Then we saw something that shocked me- a pair danced past us, laughing at grinning at each other, totally unaware of their surroundings. My jaw dropped when I noticed who it was- Amber… and Fabrizio! I must admit… I never saw this coming. Amber was always the one who was determined she wouldn't have a boyfriend, determined she wouldn't fall in love, determined she wouldn't get married. She seemed to have changed the first two- I wondered if she'd end up changing the last.

Suddenly, I felt the need to laugh. I would have thought this all so absurd a week ago! Being on the Titanic, meeting Jack Dawson- a fictional character, mind you, witnessing Amber fall in love with a guy several years older than her… So absurd.

My train of thought was broken off by a hand tapping me on the shoulder and a voice. "Cindy, Maggie, Aili, I'd like you to meet Rose." He pulled her forward and we smiled at her.

"Hi!" I said a little more cheerfully and a little more forcedly than I would have liked. "I'm Cindy," I said, calming down a little.

"I'm Aili," the blonde girl to my right pointed out, offering her hand. Rose shook it.

"And I'm Maggie!" the last of us chirped.

"Pleasure," she said politely.

"Oh, and that's Amber, over there," I said, pointing my friend out.

Jack laughed. "So that's the girl he told me he'd had his eye on!" He looked a little closer. "She looks a little younger than someone I would've explected him to fall for. How old is she?"

"16," Maggie said with a smirk. It was ironic that Amber would fall for someone one and a fourth times her age.

Suddenly, Jack turned around. A little girl, who I remembered to be Cora, was tugging his sleeve. He grinned and went to dance with her, leaving us with Rose.

"Where are you three…" she saw Amber and corrected herself. "four from?"

We glanced at one another and decided to tell the truth. "A small town in Georgia," I said, wondering how to describe it. "Have you ever been to Atlanta?"

"Only once," Rose said, looking thoughtful. "I was seven, so I don't remember much."

"Well," I said. "We're from Powder Springs, which is a little West of Atlanta."

"I've never heard of it," Rose said curiously.

I grinned. "Not many people have. It's really small."

"How small?" She asked.

Problem. I had no idea how big Powder Springs had been nearly 100 years ago. I just knew it was small in 2008, but it was probably smaller now.

"Er…" I said inaudibly.

"What was that?" she asked, nearly having to yell because the orchestra had just started up again.

"About a thousand," I said after a moment's indecision.

It was apparently a suitable answer, because Rose accepted it with a nod.

"So, what's it like in first class?" Aili asked, looking genuinely curious.

Rose thought for a minute before answering. "It's… smothering. I'm surrounded by people who truly care for nothing except their money." I didn't believe that she'd say that to any random stranger on the street. I supposed that since we were friends of Jack, we were trusted by her to some extent. I think that meant we were accepted. I nearly laughed at this realization. I'd been accepted by my favorite characters from Titanic! (Call me obsessed, but it was important.)

Maggie grinned. "Third class is just about opposite. I like it a lot more than sometimes back at home, where I have to deal with everyone at once."

Rose gave her a curious look. I then realized the slip up. When Rose was sixteen, she probably would not have mixed with those of lesser classes. Granted, her mother would not have let her, but it would not have been normal anyhow, I assumed.

I inwardly cursed, but it was Aili who had the comeback. "What she meant," she said quickly. "was that out on the street and when eating at restaurants and things."

Rose nodded. She did look a little suspicious, but she let it pass.

We chatted for a while longer before Jack came and swept her off to dance. I wolf-whistled when they drew closer and both blushed. Maggie, Aili, and I laughed.

The rest of the party went basically that way. Amber stopped once to talk to us before Fabrizio whisked her off again to dance. Eventually, it ended… and we had one day of movie time left- the one day in which everything changed, the sinking became a memory of no one else's but ours, and the rest was unscripted. One day of changed history.


	5. Chapter 4: Forever in the Ocean

To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live

Chapter 4- Forever in the Ocean

April 14, 1912

I awoke that morning feeling as happy as I had yesterday, when the steward announced the change of course. Under the happiness, though, I was a little more pensive. I hopped off my top-bunk bed and on to the floor, being the first of the four of us to get up. I glanced out the little round window to see that the sun had just begun rising. I got a clean outfit out of my bag (squealing a little in shock when I found a rat nestled there) and went out the door. I wondered through the halls for a while before emerging on deck. The sun was nearly risen by the time I sat down on a bench and stared into the water, pondering.

What now? If we'd accomplished our task, why were we still here? I didn't want to leave- far from it, in fact. Still, I couldn't help but wonder. What I also wondered was what happened at home, while we were here? If we'd been here for four days, did time at home stand still- as it hadn't occurred yet- or did four days with no Cindy, Amber, Maggie and Aili pass? If the ship would've sunk, and one of us would've died, would we not be born come 1992, or would we disappear and never be seen again in 2008? Would all that was left of us be an unmarked grave, or perhaps a marked one on the off chance that when we'd come back to 1912, tickets had been made specifically for us?

These questions and similar ones floated through my mind. I think I must have sat there for a few hours, at least, because when I at last looked up, my friends were around me and the sun was fully risen.

"Nice of you to drop in," Amber remarked with a grin.

"Sorry," I sighed. "I was just thinking."

"How long have you been up?" Maggie asked curiously.

"I don't know," I said. "What time is it?" I added to Amber.

"Time for you to get a watch."

"Amber!"

"10:31."

"Probably three hours," I answered.

Maggie raised her eyebrows.

"So," Aili said. "What to do today?"

I shrugged. It struck me that we had another free day. And then whatever number of days it would take to reach New York.

Since we could come up with nothing better, we sat around- all day. It felt good to relax, having worried and generally been more active the past few days then we'd thought. I wished I'd had a book and wondered about it- why did Amber have her normal, 2008 watch, and nobody else had anything? I pushed it to the back of my mind, however, and took a nap instead.

Since I'd woken early that morning, I slept for a good part of the day and this time, it was the rest of my group who got up and left the room. When I woke up, I was the only one. I set out to find them.

I again tread a path through the halls and found them when I got up into the fresh air. They were, in fact, sitting on the same bench I had this morning. They were noisier than I had been, though, talking and laughing instead of pondering. I joined in and that was the rest of our day, save one thing.

Maggie tugged my sleeve that evening and I turned around. Since we were rather close to the bow, we saw the best scene, in my opinion, of the whole movie. The flying scene. The moment was beautiful to watch. We sat there for the entire event, caught in the sweetness of it all. Eventually, Rose and Jack left and we couldn't help but fuss over it.

We went to bed around 10:30 or 11:00, determined to find something to do the next day.

Sadly, the next day did not come as planned.

We were awakened at nearly midnight by a man telling us to put on life vests. Looking down, I noticed a bit of water seeping through the door. I exchanged a panicked look with Aili, who was in the bed across from mine. This was not supposed to happen.

We did as told, and then went to go to the top decks to get away from the water. We could not. The gate was locked, with a large crowd of people already gathering. I'd forgotten this… And remembering it now, I was not looking forward to it. We were close enough to the front to hear Tommy arguing with the officer blocking the gate. It was scary to listen to, as well as the whispered conversations held around us. Below us, the water was ever so slowly starting to rise. We tried not to involve ourselves in any conversation or argument, but it was hard- we could hear the frustration in Tommy's voice as he fought to make them open the gate.

Behind us, Rose and Jack appeared. Jack talked with Tommy for a moment before they rushed off to our left. We turned around and ran after them, knowing that there was a way out.

I was torn- would it be better to go back to the other stairs and tell people we'd found a way, or would they just get shot later on? I decided on letting Jack, Tommy, and Fabrizio get the gate open before going back.

As soon as I heard the crash, I ran. I heard Amber, Maggie, and Aili's voices calling me back, but I didn't pay them any attention.

"This way!" I shouted over the voices. "There's a way up over here!" Several people turned and followed the direction I was pointing, and once it cleared up a little more, I tried again. "Go back!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Then go to the left!" That got peoples' attentions, and I led the way. Left, right, right, right, up the stairs.

The only guard there, who was getting up as I approached, tried to stop the throng of people, but he couldn't.

I could only assume that my friends had gotten pushed ahead because they weren't there anymore. We made our way up the stairs a level up before we hit another problem- officers coming down the stairs we were trying to come up. They had guns.

"Turn back!" I bellowed. After a slight confusion, the crowd of people following me did. Somebody found a smaller set of stairs and we raced up them, one by one because these were narrower. The officers were not far behind us. I'm not sure why they were so intent upon locking us in the bottom of a sinking ship, but I wasn't going to stop to find out and I don't think the others were, either.

After more running and backtracking, climbing stairs and avoiding officers, the group around me and I made it up to the main top decks. I left the group and went to find out how much of the ship had already sunk. Too much for my taste, it seemed, so I had to decide if I wanted to find my friends or try to help more people.

I went with my gut- there were probably more people back in third class. It took my quite a while to find my way back, but I eventually managed it. By the time I got back to the familiar halls of the third class, there was a foot and a half of water on the floor. It seemed deserted, but I figured that gut feelings came from God and God wouldn't lead me back down here for no reason. It was because of that I slogged through the water, yelling for people to get out, because the ship was sinking. Knocking on doors, I felt like an officer or steward. It turned out that several people had only half-woken when they were told to and had gone back to sleep. After a small family, three different men, and four different women were evacuated, I couldn't find anyone else.

I started to head back, having more trouble because the water was now two and a half feet and rising. As I passed the original stairs whose gate was still locked, I heard sobbing. I turned back to see a little blonde-headed girl, sitting on the top step and looking fearfully at the water below. She couldn't have been more than four or five years old.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"My mommy and my daddy got pushed away from me and now they're gone!" She wailed.

"Do you want to go find them?"

She nodded sadly.

I picked her up so that I could hurry and we fought our way through the water and back up.

"What's your name?" I yelled at her over all the confusion and bustle.

"Elizabeth!" She yelled back.

"Where are Elizabeth's parents?" I screamed. "What are your parents' names?" I then asked, turning to her.

"Ellen and Michael."

"Last name?"

"Graham!"

"ELLEN AND MICHAEL GRAHAM!"

A couple not too far away looked up. I hurried over to them and the woman, Ellen, I assumed, jumped up.

"Elizabeth!"

I handed Elizabeth off to them and went off in search of my friends. I hoped, for selfish reasons, that they were not already on a boat. I ran as fast as I could through the crowds, yelling names and looking hard. They couldn't be found anywhere. No Amber, no Aili, no Maggie. They were all probably anywhere but where I needed them to be- safe.

I followed a few people inside to where the Grand Staircase was, continuing to look. I walked in just in time to see Jack running past, searching desperately for Rose, who'd jumped back onto the ship from her lifeboat. They embraced and kissed fiercely as I ran down the stairs. They talked urgently for a moment, and at the end, I caught "You jump, I jump, right?"

Then, a moment later, Cal started shooting. They ran in the opposite direction. With another gut feeling, I followed. When they reached the water in the dining room a minute before I did, Cal ran out of bullets and started shouting. I began following again, hearing Cal as I ran- "I put the diamond in the coat… and I put the coat on her!"

I laughed as I splashed further into the water. Rose and Jack were a bit ahead- they ran down a flight of stairs and stopped to listen for Cal. I did not want to scare them into running father, so I froze in my tracks. After a minute, they moved on, looking for a way out.

As I remembered well, they stopped to grab a little boy who was alone in the flooding hallway. I stood back when they ran toward him. Jack picked him up then they turned around. When they passed me, I ran back toward where they'd come. As I'd hoped, they did not see me. I did not want them to go back or hesitate at all. A man came out of a door and took the child from Jack, then began running toward me. I knew the man was panicked- I saw it in his actions, in his eyes. I knew from this that words would not turn him around, so I physically pushed him back the other way. He stopped. I pushed him again and 

this time he obliged, running toward the other two. I ran after him, and just in time. The door burst behind me, sending water crashing toward all of us. "TURN RIGHT!" I bellowed. They did.

I caught up with the man carrying the boy and shoved him after Rose and Jack. We all smashed into a gate. Well, it wasn't a very big gate, so actually just Jack, Rose, the man, and the boy crashed into it. I crashed into Rose. "Sorry," I grunted, trying to pull myself out of the current. I managed to grab hold of a pipe and I fought my way back. I held on to the pipe on the side of the hall across from the stairs while the others went up them. Then, kicking off the wall with all my might, I managed to join them. The gate at the top was locked. Jack and Rose screamed and yelled, the man stood there, looking shocked and tired, the boy cried, and I stood last, praying to get out alive. I remembered what happened in the movie- Rose and Jack just barely had enough room to breathe and the water was up to their necks when they finally broke through. There were just two of them then. Now there were five of us- and I was the last. I hoped so much that I could breathe, and that the man in front of me could hold the child up enough.

A man ran past, hesitated, then came back to help. The hallway around him was quickly flooding… as was the stairwell we were on. He fumbled with the keys and the water got too high for me. I kicked off and tread water, silently begging the man to hurry. He dropped the keys, apologized, cursed, and ran. Jack disappeared, looking for what the man dropped. In a moment, he came back up, unable to find them, but his face looked relieved. I was confused and scared- this didn't happen! Then, Rose pulled the gate back and slipped through. Jack followed, then the man came carrying the child, and at last me. Floating there, doing their best to fight the current and grinning tiredly at their success were the three people I'd searched for the past hour and a half- Maggie, Amber, and Aili. Aili was wet from head to toe, because, I assumed, she was one of the four of us who swam on swim team, so she got the key. I was the other one, but, trapped behind the gate in the very back, I could do little good. The other two's heads were weirdly not yet wet, but I figured that by the end of the sinking, they would be.

We all made it up the next staircase, though it was a struggle. After one more spiraling flight of stairs, we were back in the smoking room. Mr. Andrews was standing at the end of the room, staring mournfully and regretfully at the clock ahead of him. "Wait, wait, wait!" Rose exclaimed, pulling Jack to a stop. "Mr. Andrews!" She broke away from Jack and went toward the ship designer. The man and the child went ahead. That was the last we ever saw of them.

"Oh, Rose…" He said sadly, lifting his head slightly to look at her.

"Won't you even make a try for it?" Rose pleaded with him, taking a step forward.

"I'm sorry," he said, "that I didn't build you a stronger ship, young Rose."

Jack stepped forward, taking Rose's hand again. "It's going fast," he said urgently. "We have to move!"

"Wait!" Mr. Andrews said at the last moment, walking back toward Rose and Jack. He handed over a life jacket as he said "Good luck to you, Rose."

Rose looked heartbroken. "And to you," she murmured. She hugged the man a last time before Jack pulled her and she went through the revolving doors with him. Up until that moment, it was one of the most depressing things I'd ever seen. I shook my head sadly. We couldn't save everyone, regardless of how much any of us liked Mr. Andrews. He would go down with his ship- and nothing we said or did could change that.

We emerged on deck and ran, going uphill on a straight floor. It would've been comical had the situation not been so dire, so tragic.

I heard Jack tell Rose "We need to stay on the ship as long as possible. Come on!"

I heartily agreed with him and we hastened to follow.

Jack and Rose ran back, jumped downward twice, then went back up again. With some difficulty, we 2008 girls followed. We saw the funnel fall- I blinked back tears when I remembered that Fabrizio had been under it. Thankfully, Amber didn't remember, and Jack didn't know, so it didn't affect the rest of the group that much.

The crowd going up was so big, we lost Rose and Jack, but since we were all going the same general direction, it did not matter much. It evened out slightly after a minute or so, and we scrambled up as much as we could before it began growing steeper. I warned my friends to hang on tight- I didn't want them to match the poor souls that were falling around us. We went up past the man who was praying over people and reciting scripture and his crowd. We went up past a woman who was clinging to her infant and the railing at the same time, her hand turning white and threatening to let go. I remembered her as one who froze to death, floating almost peacefully with her child in her arms. The pure tragedy of it all came dangerously close to overwhelming me, but I could not give up now. Not after working so hard. We finally made it to near the top and held on to the railing for dear life. Screams and death surrounded us. The screams increased as the lights on the _RMS Titanic_ went out for the last time, never to shine again. The screams then increased again as, with a terrible groan, the deck splintered and cracked, then snapped entirely, ending up in two giant pieces. The front half of the ship sank down, down, down, then disappeared completely. With the few strands still holding the front half to the back half together, it pulled the back half straight up into the air and she began her final descent. We made it up over the railing just barely, staring down at the water below us.

I glanced over at the person next to me- it was Rose. On her other side was Jack. I gasped. Right before Jack started speaking of the suction to Rose, I said my goodbyes.

"Goodbye, Jack, Rose," I said tearfully. They turned their heads toward me at the sound of their names. "It was my pleasure to have met you both." On my other side, three nods indicated their shared feelings.

Jack appeared to ponder this for a moment before nodding back at me. I knew this to mean that he did not regret knowing me, either, or any of my friends.

At that moment, the ship plunged into the water. We'd all listened to Jack telling Rose to take a deep breath, and not let go of his hand. I exchanged looks with my friends- we would to the same thing. I took Aili's hand, who took Amber's hand, who took Maggie's. At the last possible second, we jumped from the last bit of the _Titanic_ ever to feel air.

Cold. Oh, so very, very cold. All over. I was suddenly paralyzed. I could not make it to the surface, I just couldn't. The pain of the cold blocked everything, everything, until there was nothing left. Just a terrible, slicing need to get away from it. We'd been in it, of course, since midnight, but after being out of it for half an hour than suddenly being in it again, it hurt like heck. It was so cold, it was burning hot.

Then, my head broke the surface again. I looked to Aili, whose hand was still attached to mine. She looked exactly like I felt. Her hair was icy, her face was drained of whatever color it had left when the ship began to sink, her lips were blue, her teeth were chattering, her hand was shaking in mine.

"W-we n-n-need to g-get t-t-t-o something t-to float o-on." I managed to get out.

She nodded slightly. There was a door floating nearby. "Y-you g-g-get on it, A-a-a-ili."

She was too tired and cold to protest, so she pulled her hand from mine, pulled her other from Amber's, then clambered slowly onto the door. "W-where's M-maggie?" I asked Amber when my cold mind processed that she wasn't there.

"M-m-m-maggie?" Amber asked, not quite comprehending. "O-oh, Maggie!"

I nodded slightly. I watched as Amber tried to remember, and her face when from painfully thoughtful to understanding to shocked to guilty and sad. "She… she… h-her hand g-got p-p-pulled from m-mine and h-her l-l-l-life vest's o-over there."

Sudden understanding hit me like an anvil. "M-maggie… d-d-drowned?"

I couldn't comprehend it.

Maggie was dead. Jack would be dead. Fabrizio was dead. Tommy was dead. Mr. Andrews was dead. Unnamed people that we didn't know were dead.

The _Titanic_ was gone, forever in the ocean just like those who perished with her.

Was it worth it to come back at all?

**A/N-**

FOTB laughs evilly

No, this is not the end, but that's quite a cliffie, isn't it? I want to write more now, I really do, but it's now 12:04 AM and I've been working on this chapter for four solid hours and I need sleep, too.


	6. Chapter 5: Changing What Was

To Drown, To Freeze, or To Live

Chapter 5- Changing What Would've Been

April 14, 1912

"Cindy!" What? Why was someone calling my name?

"Cindy, wake up!" I opened my eyes slowly. Above me was the ceiling I'd slept under for three nights. What? This was all on the ocean floor! I closed my eyes again. Did I die or something? "CINDY!" Came a voice right in my ear, shouting. My eyes flew open again.

"Hmm?" I was still disoriented. What was going on?

"Thank God, she's awake!" Came another voice from under me.

"What happened?" I asked after a moment of thinking. I could come to no logical conclusion.

"Well, you tell us that." Aili's face swam into view. I shook my head and my vision cleared a little.

"Are you alright?" Maggie's head popped up over the edge of my bunk. What? Maggie was dead!

"Maggie!" The strangled cry escaped my lips as I hugged her.

"What did I do?" Maggie asked, confused.

"You died," I said seriously. Maggie and Aili exchanged looks. Amber's popped up, too and she looked just as bewildered.

"Cindy… what are you talking about?"

I was nonplussed. They were all there. Surely they would remember! But, that still didn't explain why Maggie and our cabin were there again. "When the ship sank? Maggie drowned, and we couldn't save anyone who originally died, as far as I could tell."

"So, I suppose you dreamed this all?" Aili asked me.

A dream? But it was so real! I could still feel the cold water lapping over my shoulders.

"Did I?" I asked, doing my best to take it in.

"I think so," Aili said. "I just woke up and I saw you over here, tossing and turning. When I looked closer, there were tears pouring down your face and you were shivering. Your face was as white as ice and you freaked out when I tried to wake you up."

I frowned. Such a real dream, such a scary dream. Why? "I dreamed that the ship was sinking. See, Maggie died-" The mentioned girl frowned. "Jack died-" Aili frowned. "Fabrizio died-" Amber frowned. I sighed. "Everybody died."

"No wonder you weren't happy." Amber remarked.

"It was… so, so real. It was terrible. And when I got separated from you guys and I went back down to look for other people who didn't get up to the top, I had a huge adrenaline rush. I was on a mission, then when we jumped in the water, it was all gone at once. Suddenly I was more tired, more cold than I've ever been in my life. Why was it so real?"

They could not answer my question, but just then, understanding and realization came to me. That was what would happen if we did not change it.

"We have to stop it," I said. I was still pale and scared, but resolute. A plan was forming in my head even as I spoke. "Here's what we do."

:

We made our way up the ship, looking for the officer's quarters. Maggie had found a diagram of the ship mounted on the wall along the way, so we were headed toward a wardrobe change. Our plan was a scheme that was on knife-edge. So many things could go wrong. In fact, there was nearly nothing that would go right unless we were absolutely careful.

We found the officers' quarters with some difficulty. It was a narrow hall with doors every few feet, each one with a name on it. I knew who we needed- Fifth Officer Harold Lowe. He was the only one who went back for survivors, if a little too late. Once we had the location of his room in our heads, we went to look for him.

It took us nearly an hour to find him, and thankfully when we did, he was alone. At my nod, we jumped on him. With the combined strength of four sixteen-year-olds, we managed to get him to the ground. Aili tied a cloth around his face so he could not yell for help and Amber tied his hands together. Maggie took his set of keys from the clip on his side, and we proceeded forward, keeping to obscure corners as we retraced our steps. It would not do to get caught.

We went back to his room, and Maggie unlocked the door with the keys. Going inside, Aili closed the door behind us. There was a small closet in the back of the room. Amber pulled a spare uniform from it and stepped back. I pushed him in, sent him an apologetic look as he crashed to the floor, and closed the door with a snap. Right before the door shut, I saw the deadly look he was sending me.

"One of you has to come back for him when the ship sinks," I said brusquely, feeling guilty but trying my best not to show it.

"I will," Aili volunteered.

I nodded and sighed.

We sat down to wait and prayed that people would not notice Lowe's absence. If they did, our plan could be completely ruined. The time ticked ever so slowly and we grew more and more nervous, as well as increasingly restless. Sitting in an unfamiliar room waiting for doom was not my way of spending an afternoon normally, and I hated it now.

The ship had changed course- that much was not a dream. _Titanic_ would hit an iceberg anyway, my gut feeling told me. The ship was simply, unavoidably destined for it. I hoped that we had not caused a change in the course for the worst- if the _Titanic_ ended up farther away from the _Carpathia_, then we were gambling even more. Whether we were in boats or water, it was cold, and many of these people were still wet.

The hours passed by like decades when finally, according to Amber's watch at least, the ship came close to the iceberg and we got ready to leave. We could only assume that the ship would collide at the same time as history told us. I changed into the uniform (which fit better than I'd hoped) and prepared to go save Jack and the others as best I could.

We felt an alarming shudder- it was 11:40 and the ship had struck an iceberg. Amber opened the door and we all filed out. "Wait!" I said after a moment of walking. I ran back, unlocked the closet door, took the man's hat, and ran back out, locking both doors behind me.

On the way, I gathered my hair up into a clip on top of my head and shoved the hat on top of it. I was the tallest of the group, so with my hair far from visible, the hat, and the uniform, I mostly looked the part. This was a rather difficult plan, but if correctly executed, it could save many lives and that was our ultimate objective. Of course, some of these lives weren't real, as far as knew. Many of the movie characters (Rose and Jack, for instance) were just that- movie characters. It tore me in half- we were much closer to our fictional friends then we were to people such as George Graham, Isador Strauss, or Katherine Buckley, but our work for our friends would be virtually pointless- dead or alive, they were not real. How do you choose who will live and who will die? It was nothing short of playing God.

Finally, gritting my teeth as I stood as tall as I could and nearly marched to the bow of the ship, I decided that saving Jack was important. That was what we'd set out to do originally, and that was what we would accomplish, if nothing else.

"Lowe!" Someone snapped from behind me.

"Sir," I acknowledged, pitching my voice quite a bit lower than usual and imitating the accent as best I could. I recognized the man as First Officer William Murdoch.

"Help Lightoller and Pitman load the boats," He ordered, his voice tight and stressed.

"Yessir," I grunted.

I walked quickly to where I saw Lightoller. "Only women and children at this time!" He was yelling when I approached. He looked over in relief when he saw me.

"Lowe!" He cried. "Go oversee lifeboats 7, 8, and 9." I nodded and headed in the direction he gestured in.

There was a good deal of chaos, but I knew that this wouldn't be the half of it by the time the wood under my feet was gone. "Moody!" I yelled. He looked up. "Fill them up!" He was about to lower lifeboat number six with only twenty-three people in it. I could change that, at least.

He stared uncertainly at me for a moment, then complied. I was higher than he was- he had no choice but to obey me. I helped him usher more women and children in. When I was satisfied that it would hold no more people, I told him to release it and went on.

I was surprised at how long it actually took to get the boats filled up and lowered completely. The minutes passed quickly sometimes, and slowly sometimes, too. It all depended. If I was worrying about what I still had to do, it sped up. If I focused on what I was doing at each moment, it slowed down. The frustration of getting hysterical people to cooperate was wearing down my nerves.

"Women and children _only_, Sir!" I bellowed for what seemed like the five thousandth time that night. The man in question glared at me, but stepped back. "Thank you," I continued, ushering his wife into the boat. "One more!" I called out. I grabbed the first woman I saw and shoved her down into the boat. To my surprise, it was Helga, the woman who Fabrizio was supposed to fall in love with. Our mere presence changed everything here. I stared at her for a moment, but she didn't notice.

"Sir?" Moody asked. "Can we lower it now?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and nodded sharply. "Lower the boat!"

The two crewmen on the ropes did so and I moved on to the next boat, trying to focus. I couldn't think about how my friends were doing, or how much time we had left. It was essential that I kept my mind on the job at hand, or I wouldn't time anything right and our plan would fall into disarray.

I continued on that way, until I got to the boat I was supposed to man- and the boat that Rose was supposed to board. Even more stressed, I yelled more, pushed a little harder, and glared the whole time. Finally, as I was helping a man put his young daughter into the boat, I heard them. "I'm not going without you," Rose said, her voice scared but determined.

"No, you have to go. Now!" Jack's voice drifted to my ears. His voice had the same tone as hers.

"No, Jack."

"Get in the boat, Rose!"

"No, Jack!"

"Get on the boat!"

"Yes, _get_ on the boat, Rose!" Cal's voice sent shivers down my side and even as I loaded people in, my fingers twitched. Wouldn't it just make everything so much simpler if I pushed him off now? But no, I 

couldn't. Even though it was purely selfish, Cal did save a little girl. "My God, would you look at you! You look a fright! Here. Put this on. Come on."

"Go on, I'll get the next one." Poor, poor Jack.

"No, not without you!" Rose's teeth were gritted, but her resolve was slowly weakening. I could tell that she wanted to believe him.

"I'll be alright! Listen, I'll be fine. I'm a survivor, alright? Don't worry about me! Now go on, get on."

"I have an arrangement with an officer on the other side of the ship. Jack and I can get off safely- both of us."

"See? I've got my own boat to catch."

"Hurry, they're almost full!"

Now it was my turn. "Step aboard, miss!" I said, nearly forgetting to keep my voice low and accented. I helped her into the boat. "Step aboard, please, and step lightly!"

I could see the sorrow in her eyes as Jack's hand slipped from hers and she fell back onto the board. "And lower away," I yelled from next to her. The crewmen did as told, and I seized my chance, praying silently that it would work. If it didn't, I would be in a boat, unable to scheme up a new plan and unable to let my friends know so they could.

"Rose, listen to me," I said in a low voice. She turned, wondering who on this boat would know her name.

"What?" She asked, somewhat distractedly. She looked back up at Jack mournfully.

"You have to stay on this boat." I said, an edge to my voice.

"What?" She questioned again, her attention finally on me.

"You have to stay on this, or else you might kill Jack on accident."

Rose looked incredibly confused. "How do you know Jack, and what do you mean?"

Ignoring the first question, I pointed up to where men were throwing off chairs and other wooden things off the ship. "They are throwing those so that when the ship goes down, people can float on them. There are not enough things like that within grabbing range to throw off. You know how many people won't be on a boat- there won't be enough for each one of them to climb up on. You also know as well as I do that Cal is lying- Jack's going to end up in the water, and with you there to worry about, he won't give a thought to getting out of the water himself. He won't get something to float on, and when he's in the water, he'll die from hypothermia. I'm pretty sure you'll make it either way, but he won't if you don't _stay in the boat_." I snarled the last bit, desperate for her to understand.

"How did you figure that out?" She asked, half suspicious and half plainly unsure.

"I did the math." I said simply.

"And, may I ask, how do you know Jack, and how do you know me?" She clearly thought me to be something of a stalker.

I took off the hat for a moment and pointed at the clip, then gestured for her to look more closely at my face. Realization seemed to hit her and she gasped. "Cindy's your name, isn't it?"

I nodded, reverting back to my real voice. "And I want Jack to die about as much as you do. He's become like a big brother to me, and I don't want to lose him."

She thought for a moment, looking alternatively at Jack, me, and the ship. It was then that I realized that we were too far down for her to jump and make it back onto _Titanic._ I grinned slightly. Mission accomplished. She sighed. "Are you positive that he won't die?"

'No' was what was going through my mind, but of course I couldn't tell her that. There was no way to be absolutely sure. Something could go wrong, something that I couldn't control, but that's what my friends were still on the ship for. "Yes," I said decidedly. "He'll be out of the water when he only has to worry about himself. I'm in charge of this boat- we'll go back and get him out of the water before it's too late, I promise. We'll wait a moment for the suction to stop, then we'll go. Alright?"

Rose sighed once more before nodding. At that moment, the boat touched down. "Row away, boys!" I yelled, once more throwing my voice down an octave. They did so, and Rose and I sat in silence again.

Watching the _Titanic_ sink was probably the scariest thing I'd ever had to witness. I glanced over at Rose every so often, gauging the panic in her eyes. My eyes probably had the exact same level in them, and both of our senses of overwhelming fear for those we loved rose every second.

Even from the distance away we were at, we could still hear the screams. It terrified me to think of those who were still over there. Amber, Maggie, Aili, Jack, Fabrizio, Tommy… My friends. Were they still alive? I did not know what I would do if they weren't.

Waiting had always been hard for me, and this was nothing short of torture. Finally, the ship disappeared below the surface. I didn't know how long we needed to wait. True, I wanted to go before everyone froze to death, but even at the small amount of suction there had turned out to be, it was still there, and it was still a threat. I decided that there was only one thing I could to- we'd move the people from one boat to the other right now, like Lowe did in real life, then we'd go back. The only difference is that we wouldn't spend any additional time waiting.

We transferred them quickly, the crewmen helping me. I whispered to Rose "Would you like to stay in the boat and go back with me?" I was sure that one extra person already in the boat would not make much of a difference. She nodded bracingly, and I instructed the crewmen to row.

As we got closer and closer, the panic escalated. What if I would go back, and find my friends dead? I swallowed my fear, because I had done all I could now.

"Hello?" I yelled. I heard several cries meet my own. That was a good sign. That meant there were still living people out there. The first people we came to weren't dead yet, but there were several on the verge. We pulled a lady carrying an infant into the boat. She was the one I'd recognized. She was alright, but her baby was barely breathing. I could do nothing to help, but Rose, with tears in her eyes, took off Cal's coat and wrapped it around the baby. I hoped that it would not die. We pulled more and more people into the boat, but we were starting to see some that were not that lucky.

Corpses stared at us with unblinking eyes. It was incredibly eerie and unsettling, as well as absolutely tragic. There was nothing we could do about them, though. We continued on, seeing no sign of any people we knew. The corpses were getting more and more frequent as the time passed. My breath caught in my throat every time I thought that the next body could be a friend's.

We rowed through what was now almost a floating graveyard. More people were dead than alive at this point. We had thirty-one who had been pulled from the water. It was an improvement to history, but not by much.

The oars moved through the freezing water almost silently. Our yelling was now almost the only thing that could be heard. We always headed in the direction of answering calls we received. I tried my best not to think of those who were still alive but could not yell any more.

We continued along until I saw something that made my heart stop- it was Aili! She was floating on a chair. One of the crewmen looked closer to check if she was breathing or not- she was. I breathed a sigh of relief, but our other friends were far from out of danger still. They pulled Aili into the boat and we went on. A few feet later, we found the real Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe. Aili, at least, had kept her promise and gone back for him. Luckily, he was too cold and too tired to recognize me, or else to complain.

The next person that I recognized was Cora. I spotted her before anyone else did, and I almost thought that she was dead. Then I saw a slight movement- her little chest was moving slowly up and down still. I grabbed her and pulled her in, fighting back tears and hoping she would make it.

Just past Cora was someone I'd hoped beyond hoping that we could save- Jack. Rose was turned around, doing her best to help Cora, so she didn't see him. I leaned in. He was indeed floating on the same thing Rose had been the first time around. He appeared to be asleep. My heart stopped beating for several seconds. "Jack?" I asked quietly. Almost in slow motion, his eyes opened. I could've laughed.

"Rose!" I said, tapping her on the shoulder. She paused and turned around. I pointed. She _did_ laugh.

They pulled Jack into the boat and her grinned weakly at Rose. "I t-told you I was a s-survivor, d-didn't I?"

Once I was positive that he would indeed survive, my fear returned. We still had not found Amber or Maggie, not to mention Fabrizio and Tommy.

Two minutes later, we came upon five living people. Maggie, Amber, Tommy, Fabrizio, and a boy that appeared to be around my age that I didn't recognize. I closed my eyes for a moment in sheer relief and thankfulness.

As much as I wanted to, I could not dwell on those we'd found- I'd hoped that there were still more to find. We searched and searched and came up with seven more people- a total of fifty-four. The boat was actually full. We continued looking but could find no more. Turning sadly away from the bodies ahead of me, I instructed the crewmen to take us back to where the other boats were still.

Once we got back, we stared at everyone else in the boats surrounding. How was this possible, that so many people could end up in such a bad situation? That so many more perished because of it?

It was a very, very long night to wait through. It was very cold- not nearly as cold as the water, but still. Nobody talked very much. I think that most of us simply pondered what had happened and mourned those we'd lost.

Of those we'd picked up, eight died that night while we were waiting on help. Thankfully, none of my friends had been among that eight. I felt guilty thinking that, though- those who died had families awaiting them in America, friends they'd left behind who they'd never see again, dreams, hopes, lives that now were extinguished like candles. What did our existence mean if it could end so suddenly?

When the sun finally rose that day of April 15th, 1912, the _Carpathia_ appeared on the horizon. Men climbed down ladders and pulled us back up them. Some of those rescued were in too much shock or else too ill to do anything more than be carried. Others rushed up the ladder as fast as possible, eager just to get back to New York and forget the whole thing. When it was my turn (I was the last in the boat), I found that I needed a bit of help. The adrenaline rush that had helped go rescue people from the water was long since gone. They pulled me up and I sat down shakily.

After a few moments, I had regained enough strength to get up and find my friends. They were huddled in a small group- all of them. One by one, they looked mournfully up at me. Their eyes mirrored mine. I thought about each wonderful person. I hadn't realized how much any of them meant to me until I'd almost lost them all. Amber, my amazing, sometimes insensitive brunette friend. She wasn't being insensitive at the moment. Aili, my beautiful, blonde, cheerful friend who was actually one heck of a surfer. Maggie, my occasionally uncertain, thin redheaded friend who put everyone ahead of herself. Jack, my new, strong friend who was a survivor. Rose, my fiery, determined friend who belonged among us, not with those of her childhood. Fabrizio, my happy, Italian friend who despite everything that had happened this past night was going toward his destiny in America. Tommy, my funny, Irish friend who had turned out to be quite noble and helped save lives. Then there was the boy I hadn't met.

I sat down between Maggie and Tommy and looked at the newcomer curiously. "What's your name?" I asked him.

"Sean," he said, looking at me with the same curiosity. "Sean Williams—sir?"

I looked at him for a moment and remembered what I was wearing. I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked me. "Did I say something?"

"You said 'sir.'"

Poor Sean. He looked so confused. I took off my hat and let my hair out of the clip. "It's called acting, Sean."

He looked even more confused than before. So did Jack, Fabrizio, and Tommy. Amber, Aili, Maggie, Rose, and I exchanged looks then started laughing again. There was a chorus of 'what?' from each of the guys, which only made us laugh harder. I think that with all the emotions we'd been through tonight, this was the best way to get them out. Eventually, we stopped and caught our breath.

"Wait- Cindy?" It was Jack.

I turned around, grinning, and nodded.

"Feel like explaining?" He asked, completely nonplussed.

I wondered what to let him in on. I couldn't let him know that we were from the future- at least not without getting locked in a mental hospital as soon as we got to New York. Rose knew about my disguise, too, but even she didn't know why. I couldn't tell them that it was because we knew the ship would sink. I glanced at Amber, Aili, and Maggie, but they seemed at a loss, too.

I looked back at Jack, who was patiently waiting. I frowned and sighed.

"Should I tell them?" I asked my friends from 2008 after a moment.

They exchanged looks, too. Eventually, Amber shrugged. Her eyes told me that it was my decision. The 1912 folks watched this whole conversation (both the verbal part and the silent part) with bemused expressions.

"Alright," I said, turning once more to look at Jack. "I'll tell you the truth, but you have to promise that this stays between the nine of us, and you have to know that no matter how crazy this sounds, I _am_ telling the complete truth. OK?"

He frowned but nodded, so I started from the beginning. "It may sound crazy, but we're not exactly… from here." At his expression, I tried a different way. "Not from _now_." He was still not getting it. I shook my head. "Here- I was born in 1992."

His eyes widened. "What?"

I nodded. "Told you it doesn't sound sane. When we came back here, it was 2008. We went back… what was it, 96 years?"

Amber did the math in her head and confirmed. "Yup, 96 years."

"Well, anyway, in our time, there's a movie out… called Titanic. The main characters are Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater." The shock on Jack and Rose's faces was really funny. Whatever explanation they had been expecting, this evidently wasn't it. I continued. "The past few days of your lives were almost exactly the same as they were in the movie- with one small change. You," I said pointing at Jack, "died. So did you two," I added to Fabrizio and Tommy. "You," this time I point at Rose. "and Jack ended up in the water, and the first thing you came to you floated on. It wasn't quite stable enough for two people, and you didn't think to go find another one, so you got on, Jack hung off the side. He froze to death, because the real Officer Lowe waited too long to come back. That's why I impersonated him- I came back much sooner than he would've. I also convinced you to stay in the boat Jack put you on, which ensured his survival further. That's basically the long story short."

Five jaws were dropped. If I wasn't so worried about how they'd react, I would've laughed.

"So…" Jack said, trying his best to wrap his mind around it. "You four saved us?"

Maggie laughed at the look on his face. "Yes, we did!"

Amber joined in Maggie's laughter. "And you better be thankful, because we went through quite a lot to do so." She tried to look serious about it, but failed miserably.

Aili agreed. She then turned to me with an evil glint in her eye. "And it's Cindy here who cries her eyes out _every single time_ we watch you three die."

I blushed and Aili snickered.

Rose looked at us for several moments, shook her head, and seemed to accept it. "What did I do when… when Jack died?"

I smiled sadly. "You got the boats to come back, let his body sink down into the water, assured him that you'd never let go of the promise you gave him, and boarded the ship. When they asked for your name, you said Rose Dawson. You ended up getting married to some guy named Calvert. You had some kids- we don't find out exactly how many- and at least one grandkid that we know of. You worked as an actress for a good part of your life. When your husband died, your granddaughter Lizzy took care of you. A man named Brock Lovett asked you for information about the Heart of the Ocean and for the first time since he died, you told them the story of Jack. Then, you died at the age of 101." I scrunched up my nose, trying to remember. "Did I forget anything?"

"Nope," Aili said.

"So," Amber said, picking up where I left off. "Do you believe us, or do you just think we're either insane or liars?"

Jack smiled slightly, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "I might be insane for thinking this, but I think I you're telling the truth."

"I believe you," Tommy put in, looking amused.

"So do I," added Fabrizio.

"And me," Sean said last with an incredulous but trusting look on his fave.

Everybody looked at Rose. "I guess I do, too," she said with a small smile.

**A/N-**

Do you all hate me for making you wait weeks? I hope not. This won't be the last chapter (I think there'll be one more) but this is the most important one. Sorry it took me so, so long. I won't bore you with excuses, but I did have reasons!

So, 5,000 words later, the _Titanic_ sunk. It took me a while to write all this and I think I rambled quite a bit at some point, but did it turn out alright?


	7. Chapter 6: End

When we got into New York on the 18th, we each had mixed feelings. There were feelings of relief, of course, that none of our close friends had died. The feelings of grief and loss, however, were not entirely borrowed. We'd each seen and felt different parts of that horrific night and experienced and witnessed truly heartbreaking things that would stay with us until we died. I could not speak for anyone except myself on this, but I would _never_ take life for granted so much anymore. I knew it was up to each of us to spread the word- you aren't guaranteed tomorrow, so as Jack said, "Take life as it comes at you." I'd learned to enjoy every moment and cherish every opportunity.

I could tell by the others' faces that they agreed with me on the final thought- for each of the 2008 girls, a sense of closure was on the mind. We'd done what we'd come to do. We'd learned what we could, we'd tried our best, and now we just wanted to go home. The only question (for me at least) was how.

We fought our way through various reporters and distressed families and found our way to the nearest shelter. It was nice to be together in a group; we saw many people who were alone.

The shelter was quite full by the time we got there, so we had to share cots and wonder what was coming next. We were still here... and each of us secretly wondered why. I didn't find out until the next day.

Amber gathered just the four of us for a little meeting.

"I'm not coming home," she whispered.

I frowned. So did Aili and Maggie. There was silence for a moment before Aili spoke up. "What do you mean?"

"When you leave to go back to 2008, I'm not coming with you. I'm staying here."

"But... why?" I said, aghast.

She only had to say one word to make us understand- "Fabrizio," she said.

It wasn't up to me to contest her decision, I realized. On the other hand, I wasn't even sure what she was saying would work. We weren't even in real life- we were in a story, for crying out loud!

Then something caught my eye and everything fell into place- Amber had a watch for a reason. A 2008, water proof, blue plastic, sturdy watch. This was why she had a relic of our time and we didn't. It would give her something to remember us by.

I took a deep breath. "OK," I said. "If that's what you really want." She nodded and I paused. "Well," I started again, "are there any more dramatic confessions to be taken care of or is this meeting over?"

Maggie and Aili exchanged looks. Aili pushed Maggie and she sighed. "I have one." We waited. "I'm bringing someone with me."

Now I was confused. Maggie knew my question, I'm sure, before I asked it- "Who?"

"Tommy."

Aili smiled ruefully, and a little apologetically. "And I'm bringing Sean." _Oh, for the love of all that's holy- am I the _only_ one who didn't find romance on the ship of dreams?_ I thought wearily.

I could easily answer that question. Yes, yes I was.

_Oh well_, I thought, _that's the story of my life_.

And then I looked around at all of my friends, new and old, and I knew that our job was finally over.

I'd miss 1912. On the other hand, I'd be glad to be home and in my own bed. It would be nice to finally be free of danger and hurt and grief.

So when I fell asleep that night, I knew it was the last time I'd ever see Amber, or Fabrizio, or Jack or Rose. But I knew that they'd changed me for the better- and I was alright with that.

_fin_

**A/N-**

Well, here's the lame ending to what can only be described as a lame story. Oh well. At least I can now change the status to complete.

Please do me a favor and don't tell me how stupid or cliche it is... Believe me, I already know.

Signing out,

Fan of the Bible


End file.
